Saturday, March 25, 2017

Left-Handed People

Approximately 10 - 12% of
the people on Earth are left-handed and some 30 million of them live in the
United States.

The right half of the brain controls the left
half of the body. Thus, left-handers are wired into the
artistic half of the brain, which makes them imaginative, creative, ambiguous,
exasperating, stubborn, emotional, obsessive and original.

Ultrasounds of the womb
show that 90% of babies appear to favor the right thumb, which corresponds to
the global population of right-handed versus left-handed. When placed on their
tummies, right-handed babies tend to turn their heads to the right, while
left-handed babies usually turn to the left or not at all.

There have been several
recent U.S. presidents who are left-handed.

Barack Obama

Bill Clinton

George H.W. Bush

Ronald Reagan

Gerald Ford

Harry Truman

Left-handed royalty:

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Mother

Prince Charles

Prince William

Left-handers have
interesting traits:

If a left-hander injures their dominant hand, they have
an easier time adapting to the use of the other hand than a right-hander
would.

More likely to pursue creative careers

More efficient multi-taskers because the connections
between the left side of the brain and the right side are faster making it
easier to be more efficient

Left-handed college graduates go on to become 26%
wealthier that right-handers

Since the right side of the brain has a lower tolerance
to alcohol, they are three times likely to become alcoholics

Twice as likely to be a man -- women are 4% more likely
to be right-handed

Reach puberty 4 to 5 months later than right-handers

More likely to have allergies & migraines

More likely to be insomniacs & suffer dyslexia or
stuttering

Those with autism are more likely to be left-handed

More likely to be on extreme ends of an intelligence
test -- there are more left-handers than right-handers with an IQ above
140 and 20% of Mensa members are left-handed

Recover from strokes faster

Able to adjust to seeing underwater quicker

Process emotions differently than right-handers -- more
susceptible to anger and negative emotions

On a QWERTY keyboard, there are 1447 English words
typed solely with the left hand, compared to 187 with the right hand

May die as many as 9 years earlier than right-handers

Twice as common in twins versus the general population

One of four Apollo astronauts are left-handed

Mothers who are over 40 at the time of a child's birth
are 128% more likely to have a left-handed baby than a woman in her 20s

Premature babies are more likely to be left-handed

Stressed mothers are more likely to have a left-handed
child

Reach sexual maturity later than right-handed

Sinistrophobia is the fear of left-handedness

August 13 is International Left-Handers Day

Treatment of left-handed
people by nationality or religion:

In Latin, the word for left is "sinister"
which means clumsy on both sides

In German, the word for left-handed is
"linkisch" which means clumsy or awkward

In Russian, the word for left-handed is
"levia" which is a term of insult

In Italian, the word for left-handed is
"mancino" which usually means dishonest

In Scotland, "you must have been baptized by a
left-handed priest" is a saying used to describe an unlucky person

Among the Inuit Eskimos, every left-handed person is
considered to be a potential sorcerer

The Incas believed left-handers possessed magical
powers and were capable of healing

The North American Zuni tribe believed being
left-handed brought about good luck

During the Spanish Inquisition, left-handers were more
likely to be tortured

In medieval Europe, witchcraft
texts proclaimed that the left-hand was used to curse or harm another
person -- to bring about a curse, witches were instructed to silently
touch the recipient with the left hand, which would impose the curse --
the devil supposedly gives a benediction or a baptism with the left hand, as
opposed to the Christian church which performs right-handed blessings

Medieval Jewish philosopher,
Maimonides (1135 - 1204), listed 100 faults a Jewish priest was not allow
to have -- being left-handed was one of them

In many Islamic countries, people
are forbidden to eat with their left hand, which is considered to be
unclean

In Christian and Jewish
tradition, all benedictions must be made with the right hand -- for Catholics
and others, the priest must present the communion wafer with the right
hand and the recipient accepts it with the right hand

In the Talmud, the Prince of
Demons is named Samael, which is associated with the left side. The angel
Michael sits on God's right side and Samael sits on God's left side. The
implication is that right is good and left is evil

Being
left-handed has been called by many names:

southpaw

sinistromanuality

mancinism

gibble-fisted

cackhandedness

skivvy-handed

ballock-handed

scrummy-handed

cunny-handed

gibble-fisted

kaggy-fisted

cawk-fisted

Famous left-handers:

Albert Einstein

Isaac Newton

Leonardo Da Vinci

Aristotle

Michelangelo

Charles Darwin

Marilyn Monroe

Angelina Jolie

Judy Garland

Robert De Niro

Winston Churchill

Benjamin Franklin

Alexander the great

Charlie Chaplin

Jimi Hendrix

Julia Roberts

Whoopi Goldberg

David Bowie

Marie Curie

Neil Armstrong

Jack the Ripper

Boston Strangler

___________

Quote for the Day -- "I
restore myself when I'm alone." Marilyn Monroe

___________

Bret Burquest is the author
of 11 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a few dogs and where life is series
of dogs.

1 comment:

About Me

Computer Programmer (1972-2002), College Instructor (2001-2006), Newspaper Columnist (2001-2007). Author of 12 books, including ORB OF WOUNDED SOULS, PATH TO FOURTH DENSITY, 11:11 EARTH TIME and BRAIN BLOSSOMS. He lives in the Ozark Mountains, where he writes stuff and talks to trees.